9:30 AM - 9:45 AM
[AAS09-03] Development of compact air quality measurement instrument (PM2.5, CO, O3, NOx) powered by a solar panel and its long-term observation results in India
Keywords:atmosheric instrument, PM2.5, compact, low-cost, solar power, Japanese Embassy
Recently small sensors have been developed to measure the components of harmful gases in the atmosphere, such as O3, CO and NOx, as well as PM2.5, and measurements can be made at a cost of a few hundreds of US dollar per sensor. Until now, data on the atmospheric environment has only been available from expensive equipment at only one or two observation sites, making wide-area and detailed measurements difficult. In addition, observation instruments at public measurement sites in Asian countries are sometimes not well maintained. If wide-area and high-density data can be easily obtained through network observation of compact low-cost instruments, the state of atmospheric environment research and environmental pollution countermeasures may change significantly. Matsumi and Nakayama et al. placed 32 units of compact and low-cost atmospheric instruments in north-west India to analyze the emission and transport of air pollutants emitted by rice straw burnings [1,2]. We have developed a low-cost instrument that uses solar power as its power source and transmits data to the internet via mobile phone network, for use in rural, remote and forested areas of Asia where there is no regular power supply and where maintenance and data collection are difficult.
The attached photograph shows a solar-panel-driven compact instrument (PM2.5, O3, CO, and NOx) developed that has been in operation on the roof of the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi, India, for more than a year with very little maintenance. Matsumi and Nakayama, in collaboration with Panasonic Corporation, have developed a compact PM2.5 sensor and enables real-time PM2.5 measurements [3]. Compared with larger standard instruments in Japan and other countries of the world, it provides very accurate measurement results from low to high (~1000 µg m-3) concentrations[3]. For gaseous substances, our system is equipped with commercial electrochemical sensors from Alphasense UK. The measured data in remote sites are automatically uploaded daily to an internet server using mobile phone network. To carry it in a remote site of Asia, we have made it power-saving (~4 W) as a whole in order to run it continuously 24 hours on a scale of several years, driven by a relatively small solar power panel (50 W) and a small lead battery. In the US Embassy in New Delhi next to the Japanese Embassy, PM2.5 is measured with a large BAM instrument and one-hour values are published on the internet [4]. The attached graph is a part of observation results in November 2023, when high concentrations of PM2.5 of 600 mg m-3 were observed. The results of our low-cost small instrument and those of the US Embassy's large standard instrument, BAM, match well. The results of the measurements at the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi are published daily on the internet as part of Global Environmental Database of the National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan.
[JPN] https://db.cger.nies.go.jp/ged/ja/realtimedata/delhi_aq.html
[ENG] https://db.cger.nies.go.jp/ged/en/realtimedata/delhi_aq.html
News article of the Japanese Embassy in India: https://www.in.emb-japan.go.jp/itprtop_ja/index.html
We expect to make our atmospheric environmental observation data useful for the health care of the Japanese residents in India in particular.
[Acknowledgements]
We are grateful to staffs of the Japanese Embassy in India for their cooperation in setting up the equipment and observations for this study. Takayuki Yamasaki and Wataru Okamoto of Nagoya University technically supported.
[References]
[1] Matsumi Y. et al. in Session H-CG26 “Impacts of Agricultural Residue Burning”, JPGU 2024.
[2] Singh, Tanbir, Matsumi Y. et al., Scientific Reports (2023).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-39471-1
[3] Nakayama T. et al. Aerosol Science and Technology, https://doi.org/10.1080/02786826.2017.1375078
[4] https://www.airnow.gov/international/us-embassies-and-consulates/#India$New_Delhi
The attached photograph shows a solar-panel-driven compact instrument (PM2.5, O3, CO, and NOx) developed that has been in operation on the roof of the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi, India, for more than a year with very little maintenance. Matsumi and Nakayama, in collaboration with Panasonic Corporation, have developed a compact PM2.5 sensor and enables real-time PM2.5 measurements [3]. Compared with larger standard instruments in Japan and other countries of the world, it provides very accurate measurement results from low to high (~1000 µg m-3) concentrations[3]. For gaseous substances, our system is equipped with commercial electrochemical sensors from Alphasense UK. The measured data in remote sites are automatically uploaded daily to an internet server using mobile phone network. To carry it in a remote site of Asia, we have made it power-saving (~4 W) as a whole in order to run it continuously 24 hours on a scale of several years, driven by a relatively small solar power panel (50 W) and a small lead battery. In the US Embassy in New Delhi next to the Japanese Embassy, PM2.5 is measured with a large BAM instrument and one-hour values are published on the internet [4]. The attached graph is a part of observation results in November 2023, when high concentrations of PM2.5 of 600 mg m-3 were observed. The results of our low-cost small instrument and those of the US Embassy's large standard instrument, BAM, match well. The results of the measurements at the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi are published daily on the internet as part of Global Environmental Database of the National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan.
[JPN] https://db.cger.nies.go.jp/ged/ja/realtimedata/delhi_aq.html
[ENG] https://db.cger.nies.go.jp/ged/en/realtimedata/delhi_aq.html
News article of the Japanese Embassy in India: https://www.in.emb-japan.go.jp/itprtop_ja/index.html
We expect to make our atmospheric environmental observation data useful for the health care of the Japanese residents in India in particular.
[Acknowledgements]
We are grateful to staffs of the Japanese Embassy in India for their cooperation in setting up the equipment and observations for this study. Takayuki Yamasaki and Wataru Okamoto of Nagoya University technically supported.
[References]
[1] Matsumi Y. et al. in Session H-CG26 “Impacts of Agricultural Residue Burning”, JPGU 2024.
[2] Singh, Tanbir, Matsumi Y. et al., Scientific Reports (2023).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-39471-1
[3] Nakayama T. et al. Aerosol Science and Technology, https://doi.org/10.1080/02786826.2017.1375078
[4] https://www.airnow.gov/international/us-embassies-and-consulates/#India$New_Delhi